Ask HN: Is This Racial Discrimination? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is This Racial Discrimination?

5 pointsnotpstanita2 comments

So, I had a founder of a newly funded American startup tell me that he thought I was going to be either "Pakistani" or at least "brown" when we were talking on a video call (because of my name). He was (I believe) Indian American. And when I told him that while I am not Pakistani, I am in fact "brown" by some definitions since I am mixed hispanic, black, and white. He seemed dismissive of that.

Anyways, did not get any follow up after that video call.

So, I am wondering if I should report this? Go public with the name of the founder and startup? Contact their investors and let them know?

Discrimination of any kind is disgusting and I was unsure of whether to do anything about it. But, I do not think that discmination should work in any "direction".

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Usually, that would be stereotyping via judging by the name / surname of an individual which is just as bad as any sort of racial prejudice in an interview which I have to be frank, really is despicable and unnecessary in the hiring process.

They don't give a follow up reason or a response because it would be worse on them as it would be proof that they 'actually' rejected you because of these reasons, or just no reason at all. But the response would be there as proof. Thus, the standard no response (Or what I call, Cowards response) is safer for them.

> So, I am wondering if I should report this? Go public with the name of the founder and startup? Contact their investors and let them know?

I agree with your claim and reporting this, however you need to prove that it happened. The thing is, it would only be better to do that if you have recorded the interview yourself and then you can prove that this happened and attach a name to it. Otherwise, its quite difficult to do this, I'm afraid.

I don't think the investors would care if you brought this to their attention. I am not a lawyer, but if you want to bring this forward speak to a legal professional about this.

I don't think the investors would care if you brought this to their attention. I am not a lawyer, but if you want to bring this forward speak to a legal professional about this.

Definitely talk to a lawyer. Bad PR is poison to a startup and often just the threat of litigation is enough for them to want to settle (they often have insurance that covers lawsuits like these). I know someone who sued an employer for discrimination for a comment the CEO made about his disability being the reason for not promoting him. Of course this conversation was not recorded so there was no proof (I was a witness to the comment). They decided on binding arbitration, and in the end settled for 6 figures plus a non-disclosure.

Depending on the company, it may be worth it to make this go away than have bad PR like "XYZ Corp interviewers only want Pakastani candidates"

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